The Doom Patrol is a superhero team appearing in publications from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963).[2] Writers Arnold Drake (who was the feature's regular scripter) and Bob Haney, artist Bruno Premiani, and editor Murray Boltinoff are generally credited as the team's creators; however, Drake insisted that Haney did no more than answer Drake's call for help to meet the short deadline he had been given for the first story.[3] The Doom Patrol has since appeared in multiple incarnations.

The first Doom Patrol consisted of super-powered misfits, whose "gifts" caused them alienation and trauma. The series was canceled in 1968, and Drake killed the team off in the final issue, Doom Patrol #121 (September–October 1968).

In the years after this story several subsequent Doom Patrol series were launched. Each series tried to capture the spirit of the original team, but the only character constant to all was Robotman.

Publication history

The original Doom Patrol (vol. 1)

Cover to My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963), the first appearance of the Doom Patrol. Art by Bruno Premiani.

The Doom Patrol first appeared in 1963, when the DC title My Greatest Adventure, an adventure anthology title, was being converted to a superhero format. The task assigned writer Arnold Drake was to create a team that fit both formats. With fellow writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani, he created the Doom Patrol, a team of super-powered misfits regarded as freaks by the world at large.[2] It first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80, June 1963. Doctor Niles Caulder motivated the original Doom Patrol, bitter from being isolated from the world, to use their powers for the greater good. The series was such a success that My Greatest Adventure was officially retitled The Doom Patrol beginning with issue #86.

When the popularity of the book waned and the publisher canceled it, Drake ended the series in a dramatic manner: he killed off the entire Doom Patrol. In Doom Patrol #121 (September–October 1968), the Doom Patrol sacrificed their lives to save the small fishing village of Codsville, Maine. This marked the first time in comic book history that a canceled book ended by having most of its cast of main characters die. Artist Bruno Premiani and editor Murray Boltinoff appeared at the beginning and the end of the story, asking fans to write to DC to resurrect the Doom Patrol, although the latter was supposed to have been Drake. According to the writer, he was replaced with the editor because he had just resigned over a pay dispute and moved to Marvel Comics. He finished the script only out of friendship for Boltinoff.[4] A few years later, three more issues appeared in DC's short-lived attempt to copy Marvel's line of series reprint titles (as opposed to DC's anthology reprint titles). A Doom Patrol revival did not occur until nine years after the original's demise.

Some similarities exist between the original Doom Patrol and Marvel Comics' original X-Men.[5] Both include misfit superheroes shunned by society and both are led by men of preternatural intelligence confined to wheelchairs. These similarities ultimately led series writer Arnold Drake to argue that the concept of the X-Men must have been based on the Doom Patrol.

Drake stated:

“

...I’ve become more and more convinced that [Stan Lee] knowingly stole The X-Men from The Doom Patrol. Over the years I learned that an awful lot of writers and artists were working surreptitiously between [Marvel and DC]. Therefore from when I first brought the idea into [DC editor] Murray Boltinoff’s office, it would’ve been easy for someone to walk over and hear that [I was] working on a story about a bunch of reluctant superheroes who are led by a man in a wheelchair. So over the years I began to feel that Stan had more lead time than I realized. He may well have had four, five or even six months.

”

(X-Men #1 debuted three months after MGA #80; due to publication lag times, Lee could not have known of the Doom Patrol when he scripted the first X-Men story unless he had been told about it in advance of its publication.)[6]

Paul Kupperberg's Doom Patrol

Testing the waters

An Indian-born woman named Arani Desai, called herself Celsius because of her ability to stimulate her inner core temperature and project powerful thermal blasts of heat and cold in balance with her formidable martial artist skills, as taught to her by monks high in the Himalayas. Niles had hidden her there, for her own protection. Arani had married Niles in India and when she found out he was murdered she laid claim to his estate in the USA; she recreated the Doom Patrol to protect herself from General Immortus who wanted to rejuvenate himself with the immortality Arani possessed as a wedding gift from Niles.

This run also revealed the whereabouts of the Negative Spirit, which now possessed Russian cosmonautValentina Vostok, making her Negative Woman (although its presence did not render her radioactive), and she was able to transform her own body into its form rather than sending it out under control.

It also revealed Robotman as the only survivor of the explosion that killed his teammates, his head, upper torso, and one arm being left in one piece that could keep his brain alive and allow him to drag himself to shore. A man standing on that beach (appearing and later conceded to be Dr. Will Magnus of Metal Men fame) built him a new, futuristic robot body.

The final member of this team was Tempest aka Joshua Clay, a Vietnam veteran/deserter. Tempest's power was energy blasts from his hands. In addition to a typical comic book blast effect, Tempest would use the blast to propel himself through the air.[8]

This new version of the team followed its three-issue tryout with a series of guest appearances in various DC titles, such as Superman Family (in a three part arc in the Supergirl feature that was intended for the recently canceled Super-Team Family),[9]DC Comics Presents (teaming up with Superman in a story which revealed that Vostok's powers had changed to match Larry Trainor's exactly), and Supergirl. Robotman also appeared as an occasional supporting character in the Marv Wolfman and George Pérez era of Teen Titans, where it was revealed that Changeling, formerly DP associate Beast Boy, had arranged for Dayton Industries technicians to recreate the Caulder body design for Cliff. His first storyline here had him, the Titans and a new Brotherhood of Evil battle Madame Rouge and General Zahl, the murderers of the original Doom Patrol, who die in the battle.

Prelude to the relaunch

Eclipse Comics also printed a two-issue index (with covers drawn by John Byrne) to the Doom Patrol in 1984, which included all of their appearances from their first to their final appearance before their early 1980s return. Byrne also illustrated Secret Origins Annual #1, published in 1987, which recapped the origins of the two iterations of the Doom Patrol that had existed thus far, as a prelude to the relaunch of their self-titled book.

The relaunch (vol. 2)

DC relaunched Doom Patrol in its own title, cover-dated October 1987. The relaunch, also written by Kupperberg but illustrated by artist Steve Lightle,[10] later replaced by a young Erik Larsen after issue #5, showed a more superheroic version of the Doom Patrol. It included new members who were hired to the team: the magnetically empowered strong-girl Lodestone; Karma (Wayne Hawking), whose psychic power made sure that anyone trying to attack him would wind up falling over themselves; and Scott Fischer, whose body generated phenomenal quantities of heat focused through his hands, requiring him to wear protective gloves at all times. Most were not particularly interested in a heroic life. Lodestone stayed for the sense of security; Karma stayed there because it helped him hide from the law. Only Scott Fischer wanted to be a superhero in the traditional sense, and he was rather naive about the real world. A DC Comics Bonus Book appeared in issue #9 (June 1988).[11] After issue 18 and the events of the Invasion miniseries, Kupperberg left the series. DC Comics gave Grant Morrison the task of writing the book.

Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol

After the first 18 issues (and various crossovers and annuals), Kupperberg was replaced by Grant Morrison, starting with issue #19. Kupperberg agreed to help Morrison by writing out characters Morrison did not want to use: Celsius and Scott Fischer died before issue #18—Celsius was killed in an explosion in DC Comics' "Invasion!" event, and Scott Fischer (already suffering from a recurrence of childhood leukemia) was the only known active superhero casualty of the Dominators' gene-bomb (also in "Invasion!"); Karma had left the team as he was still on the run from the law (he would eventually become a member of the Suicide Squad and die on his first mission with them in the "War of the Gods" crossover event); the Negative Spirit left Negative Woman's body; and Lodestone plunged into a coma, where she would remain for the first half of Morrison's run on the book. Tempest gave up fieldwork to become the team's physician. Conversely, Morrison picked up a throw-away character from DP #14, who was slipped into the art on the last page of #18 to set up Morrison's use: Dorothy Spinner was an ape-faced girl with powerful "imaginary friends." The new writer introduced some new characters to the team, including the multiple personality-afflicted Crazy Jane; and sentient roadway Danny the Street.

Over the course of the series, Morrison dedicated some issues to parody and homage. Willoughby Kipling led the Doom Patrol on a parody of the Brujería story arc of Swamp Thing: A Murder of Crows in issues #31-32. Issue #42 featured the origin of Flex Mentallo, who was supposed to be the character in the Charles Atlas ad. A belated lawsuit from the Charles Atlas Company showed that DC was protected under Fair Use doctrine in addition to an expired statute of limitations.[13] Issue #53 featured a dream sequence that mimicked the Stan Lee/Jack KirbyFantastic Four, borrowing plot points both from the Galactus Trilogy (FF #48-50) and FF #51, "This Man, This Monster." Another special called Doom Force was released as a one-shot and was meant to mimic and parody the X-Force book by Rob Liefeld. Issue #45 parodied Marvel's Punisher in a satire called the Beard Hunter.

Morrison's approach to the book was also notable in that his villains were extremely unusual and strange, even by Doom Patrol's eccentric standards. For example:

Red Jack is a near-omnipotent being who thinks he is both Jack the Ripper and God. He lives in a house without windows, torturing butterflies to create the pain he needs to survive.

The Brotherhood of Dada are an anarchistic group who fight against reality and reason. It features members such as Sleepwalk, who can only use her tremendous powers when asleep (she takes sleeping pills and listens to Barry Manilow before battles), and The Quiz, who literally has "every superpower you hadn't thought of" and a pathological fear of dirt.

The Scissormen, a race of beings that attack non-fictional beings in the "real world" (i.e., the world the Doom Patrol live in) with their large scissor-like hands and literally cut people out of reality.

In Morrison's final storyline, it is revealed that the Chief had caused the "accidents" which turned Cliff, Larry Trainor, and Rita Farr into freaks with the express intention of creating the Doom Patrol. He then murders Josh and unleashes nanobots into the world, hoping to create a catastrophe that will make the world a stranger and more wonderful place. However, Caulder does not anticipate being decapitated by one of Dorothy's "imaginary" beings, a malign entity called the Candlemaker.[8]

Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol

Morrison left the book with issue #63, and Rachel Pollack took over writing the book the next issue. Pollack's first issue was also the first under the new Vertigo imprint of DC Comics (although the trade paperback editions of Morrison's work do bear the imprint, the original issues did not). Returning characters for Rachel Pollack's run included Cliff Steele, Niles Caulder (kept alive by the nanobots, but reduced to a disembodied head, usually kept on a tray filled with ice), and Dorothy Spinner. Pollack's run had Dorothy as a primary member of the Patrol; she brought her imaginary friends to her aid in combat. Overall, Pollack's run dealt with issues such as the generation gap, humanity, identity, transgenderism, bisexuality, and borrowed elements from Judaism and Kabbalah in the last few issues. The angel Akatriel is used as a major character in the last four issues.

The first story arc of her run was called Sliding In The Wreckage. Cliff's computer brain started to malfunction, and he regressed into flashbacks from previous storylines. Dorothy was haunted by African spirits while dealing with living alone in the real world. The Chief was given a new body by Will Magnus, but to atone for his sins, Caulder ripped his head off the body and was kept in cryogenic storage. Meanwhile, the entire Earth had been suffering from random outbreaks of weirdness, contributed by the arrival of something called "The Book of Ice." A government agency known as the Builders, similar to the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., were trying to stop the outbreak, which was apparently linked to a race of shapeshifters known as the Teiresias. As the Chief was kept in a cryogenic state, he appeared in the land of the Teiresias as a face carved in a mountain. They warned him that his arrival in this world was causing the craziness in the real world. Throughout the storyline, little people with backwards letters for heads had been seen altering people. These people were apparently older version of nanomachines, referred to as "nannos." At the DP HQ Builder agents attacked and in the craziness, two of the Teiresias approached Dorothy with a new brain for Cliff, but to insert it she needed the Chief's expertise. In the Teiresias world, nannos "repaired" the Chief so he could live as a severed head. After his awakening, the craziness seemed to stop, and Dorothy, Cliff, and the Chief each realized that they needed to be together.

The team relocated to Violet Valley's Rainbow Estates, a house haunted by ghosts of those who died in sexual accidents. There, three new members joined. The Bandage People, George and Marion, who were once two workers for the Builders but managed to escape; and the Inner Child, a manifestation of the ghosts' purity and innocence. Another later newcomer of the team was Kate Godwin, aka Coagula, one of the first transsexual superheroes. A one-time ally of the team called the Identity Addict, who could become different superheroes by shedding her skin like a lizard, integrated herself back into the team while using the False Memory identity to change the team's memories, until she was kicked out by Dorothy.

Villains that the team fought, besides the Builders, included the Fox and the Crow, two animal spirits whose feud Dorothy and Cliff were subsequently pulled into; the Master Cleaner, a being with a human fetus inside a bubble for a head who began "cleaning" the world by stripping it down to nothing and replacing the stolen items, including people, with a paper ticket; and a group of Hassidic healers who called themselves the False Healers and their leader, the Rabbi of Darkness.

Toward the end of the series, Cliff Steele's brain became entirely robotic, until Dorothy Spinner used her imaginary friends to "repair" it. The Chief would later die after trying to enter the Sephirot or Tree of Life.

A new artist, Ted McKeever, took over the artwork for the final 13 issues. Pollack continued writing the title until its cancellation with issue #87, in February 1995.

John Arcudi's Doom Patrol (vol. 3)

In December 2001, writer John Arcudi and artist Tan Eng Huat launched a new Doom Patrol series. This relaunch was not under the Vertigo imprint and returned the title to the mainstream DC universe. The series lasted for 22 issues.

Arcudi's storylines revealed what happened to the previous team. Dorothy Spinner had had a mental breakdown and accidentally killed most of the members still with the team at the end of the Pollack run. She fell into a coma, but subconsciously created a new Robotman, who became a part of a new Doom Patrol. This Doom Patrol was a company-owned team, owned and operated by Thayer Jost and Jost Enterprises for a while before working independently.[2]

Apart from Robotman, the team consists of Fast Forward, Kid Slick, Fever, and Freak.

The Robotman that Dorothy created faded away when it realized what it actually was, but the other teammates searched for Cliff Steele, who became a member of the Doom Patrol yet again. They found his brain in a desolate area of the Smoky Mountains, buried under the rubble of the campsite where Dorothy's breakdown occurred. A prosthetics expert who had defected from Russia rebuilt Cliff's body.

Jost, meanwhile, learned that he could not own the rights to the Doom Patrol, since the man who signed the rights over to him was not actually Cliff Steele. Instead, he tried to obtain guardianship of the brain-dead Dorothy. At the end of the series, Cliff pulled her life support.

Fever later appears in the six issue limited series Infinite Crisis, in a service held for numerous missing and dead heroes. Among the attendees are some of John Byrne's Doom Patrol members.

John Byrne's Doom Patrol (vol. 4)

In August 2004, DC launched a new Doom Patrol series after the new team debuted in JLA. John Byrne wrote and illustrated this series, with inks by Doug Hazlewood. Touted as "Together again for the first time!", Byrne rebooted the series, eliminating all previous Doom Patrol continuity.[14]

This series also retroactively eliminated Beast Boy's origins and numerous Doom Patrol appearances in other titles, including the reunions of Beast Boy (then called Changeling) and Robotman in the 1980s New Teen Titans and the team's important role in JLA: Year One. Three new characters — Nudge, Grunt (Henry Bucher), and Vortex — were introduced and utilized throughout the series run.

This reboot was both controversial and short-lived;[15] DC canceled Byrne's series with issue #18. The events in DC's Infinite Crisis crossover saw the restoration of the Doom Patrol's full continuity, with inclusion of all previous incarnations.

Infinite Crisis and One Year Later

DC editorial used the events of the Infinite Crisis crossover to restore the Doom Patrol's continuity. In escaping from the paradise dimension they had inhabited since the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superboy-Prime and Alex Luthor created temporal ripples, which spread throughout reality, altering certain events, such as restoring Jason Todd to life.

In the reprinted edition of Infinite Crisis, additional scenes added to the collection showed Fever, Kid Slick, Ava, Nudge, Grunt, and Vortex among a two-page spread of heroes.[16]

While assisting the Teen Titans in battling Superboy-Prime, members of the Doom Patrol had flashbacks to their original history. Robotman and Niles Caulder regained memories of the previous Doom Patrol teams with which they had worked. This battle apparently undid some of Superboy-Prime's timeline changes, and resulted in a timeline incorporating all previous incarnations of the Doom Patrol, but with Rita Farr and Larry Trainor still alive. The Chief confirmed that Rita was indeed killed by Zahl's explosion. The Chief claimed that he later found her skull and treated it with synthetic proteins until her malleable body was regrown from it.[17]

Steve Dayton is again using the Mento helmet and he is mentally unstable; however, he remembers his time as the Crime lord. The Chief appears to be manipulating the Doom Patrol members once again; he claims to wish to return them to normal, so "maybe one day [they] won't be freaks anymore." After the Doom Patrol encounters the Titans, the Chief tells them that Kid Devil should be a member of the Doom Patrol instead of the Titans, since his unique appearance and nature will always separate him from others. However, Beast Boy, Elasti-Girl, and Mento all stood up to the Chief and forced him to step down as the Doom Patrol's leader, with Mento taking over that role.

Recently, while fighting the Titans and the Doom Patrol, the Brain claimed that he had been the Chief's lab assistant, that his body had been destroyed in an explosion Caulder caused, and that he was to have been the original Robotman.

Two former members of the Teen Titans were dramatically altered during the course of the Infinite Crisis. Mal Duncan, now code named Vox, and his wife (Bumblebee) now reside in the Doom Patrol's castle headquarters.

The Doom Patrol later appeared in The Four Horsemen series (2007), with Caulder back in charge. However, according to Titans (vol. 2) #1, Beast Boy has recently become the team leader. Whether he will remain so now that the Titans have reformed has not been revealed.

In DC Universe: Decisions, Robotman has a supporting role while Mento appears in issue #4.

Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol (vol. 5)

On February 7, 2009, it was announced at the New York Comic Con that Keith Giffen would be spearheading a revival of Doom Patrol, a title which he has long said he wanted to write.[18][19] He was joined by artist Matt Clark, who has also long expressed a desire to work on the team.[20] The new series focused on the core members Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman, and the Chief, while other members such as Mento, Bumblebee, and Vox were to be seen later. The title launched with a 10-page ongoing Metal Men co-feature written by J. M. DeMatteis.[21][22]

In the first issue Rita takes on the alias "Elasti-Woman" and according to the team shrink she's "mothering" Bumblebee, who's now eight inches tall after being shrunk - rather conveniently for her codename - to the size of a bee in Infinite Crisis.

Nudge, Byrne's addition to the team, was killed in the line of duty & Grunt took off with her corpse.

The current team is working out of Oolong Island (from 52), which has been turned into a resort town, while still maintaining a large super-science background. The Challengers of the Unknown's Rocky Davis is also working closely with the team for spiritual support.

Former member Crazy Jane appears in issue #7. Danny the Street, in a reduced aspect, appears in issue #8.

Following the defeat of the Crime Syndicate, the newly created Doom Patrol is introduced in issue #30 of Justice League. The team includes Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man and M.I.A. Justice League member Element Woman, whom Caulder refuses to let leave the group and tricks into thinking she was abandoned by the Justice League.

The team attempt to capture Jennifer Cruz, the new Power Ring, to force her to join the team. During their attempt to capture her, Caulder demands the team refuse to save civilians in a collapsing building to allow him to lobotomize Cruz and force her to serve him. The Justice League save the people in the building and Lex Luthor manages to hold Caulder back so Batman can convince Cruz to go with the League instead. During their fight, Luthor reveals that Caulder (as he did in the Morrison run) was responsible for causing the "accidents" that gave the Doom Patrol their powers and that both Celsius and Joshua Clay used the chaos of the events of Forever Evil to fake their deaths and escape from Caulder. It is also revealed that Caulder poisoned an entire fishing village as part of an experiment, and cured the residents only after Luthor discovered the truth and threatened to expose him.

Tangent Comics

In 1997, DC released the Tangent Comics series of books, built on the premise of a world that diverged from the mainstream following the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The series featured characters with the same names as mainstream DC characters but who were otherwise unrelated to them. The series included a one-shot Doom Patrol title. This Doom Patrol consisted of four heroes: Doomsday, Star Sapphire, Firehawk, and Rampage. The heroes traveled back in time from 2030 to 1997 to prevent Earth's destruction. The Tangent books were later integrated into the DC Multiverse (as Earth-9) as part of the events of Infinite Crisis.

In other media

Television

In the Teen Titans animated series, the Doom Patrol played a significant role in the two-part episode "Homecoming", the fifth season premiere. The lineup consisted of Mento (voiced by Xander Berkeley), Negative Man (Judge Reinhold), Robotman (Peter Onorati), and Elasti-Girl (Tara Strong) (the Chief did not appear and Mento was portrayed as the team leader). A flashback reveals Beast Boy's Doom Patrol days, where it is clear that Mento and Elasti-Girl are his parental figures (Robin later comments that the team essentially raised Beast Boy). During the flashback, Beast Boy must choose between destroying the Brotherhood of Evil's blackhole weapon or saving his teammates. Doing the latter earns him a reprimand from Mento. In the present, the Doom Patrol is captured by the Brotherhood of Evil, save for a deactivated Robotman (who was hung on a tree as a warning to intruders). A device containing a message from Mento makes its way to Beast Boy, allowing him and the Teen Titans to rescue the Doom Patrol. Beast Boy is faced with a similar choice as in the flashback and again elects to save his friends. This time, however, the Brotherhood of Evil escape, poised to use a new blackhole weapon. Both teams ultimately foil the Brotherhood's plot, with the Doom Patrol expressing pride in their former member. Though the Doom Patrol make no further appearances, the Brotherhood of Evil reoccur throughout the fifth season in a plot to eliminate all of the world's young heroes. Also, in the episode, "Go!" Beast Boy briefly mentions that he used to be on the Doom Patrol.[25]

The Doom Patrol (composed of Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman, and Niles Caulder) appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "The Last Patrol!" In this episode, it is revealed that the Doom Patrol had disbanded years earlier after failing to save the life of a young woman who was taken hostage by General Zahl during his invasion of Paris. The team is forced to come out of retirement after Zahl assembles Brain, Monsieur Mallah, the Mutant Trio (Ir, Ur, and Ar), Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, and Arsenal (who is his bodyguard) to kill them. In an ending mirroring Drake's finale to the original series, the members of the Doom Patrol ultimately sacrifice their lives in order to save the town of Codsville. After this, the people of the world are shown somberly chanting "We're all the Doom Patrol". In memory of the fallen heroes, Codsville's residents renamed the town Four Heroes after them.

Film

Variety reported on July 19, 2006 that Warner Bros. has hired Adam Turner to pen a screenplay to bring Doom Patrol to the big screen.[26] However, as of March 2014, no director, cast, or release date has been announced.

Miscellaneous

The Doom Patrol appears in issue 7 of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold comics. They teamed up with Batman when Mad Mod steals some of the Doom Patrol's signature clothes in a plan to integrate them into "suits of doom."

Collected editions

Drake and Premiani's run is available as The Doom Patrol Archives Vol. 1-5: